1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of creating rigid cards for use by a user. The rigid cards have an exercise routine, such as a workout routine or a rehabilitation routine, printed thereon from a database.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typically, a user can go to a store or to a website to buy preprinted cards having an exercise routine printed thereon for the user to use at an exercise facility. Each preprinted card provides the user with a different exercise routine to perform. However, these preprinted cards are not tailored to the specific needs of each user, which means that the preprinted cards do not take into account the health conditions of each user. Therefore, the user is at risk of being injured when performing the exercise routine on the preprinted cards.
To alleviate the injury risk, exercise facilities employ trainers to work with the users. The trainer shows the user how to exercise properly and creates the exercise routine specific to needs of the user. The trainer records the exercise routine on paper sheets or charts. The user carries the paper sheets around the exercise facility to record the exercises while moving from one exercise to the next. The problem with paper is it can be awkward to carry around, writing gets blurred by sweat, paper gets ruined by sweat, hard to organize information, not able to track member's activities efficiently, and people do not like to use paper.
To avoid the paper problem and the injury risk, exercise facilities provide their users with a single card to access the facility and/or to use on an exercise machine. A method of creating the single card is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,946 (the '946 patent) to Batchelor et al. The method of the '946 patent includes providing the user with a trainer to determine a plurality of exercises for the user to perform. The trainer inputs the exercises into a computer to define the exercise routine specific to the user. The trainer also inputs a unique identifier into the computer and links the unique identifier to the exercise routine. The unique identifier and the exercise routine are stored in a database and stored in an electronic memory within the card. When the user wants to perform the exercise routine, the card must electronically communicate with a card reader at each exercise machine to provide the user with the information required to perform the exercise. Therefore, the user is dependent on the single card and the computer to provide all of the essential information about the exercise routine. Plus, all of the exercise machines must be upgraded with the proper equipment to run the system, which is time consuming and expensive.
Therefore, there remains a need to develop a method of creating rigid cards having an exercise routine printed thereon from a computer in communication with a database for a use by a user.